ABSTRACT
Due to the low prices of energy vectors in Iran, energy wastage is very high in all industries investigated here. A study of nine petrochemical units in Iran has shown that their total energy consumption was 11 million barrels of oil-exceeding similar processes in the world by 3.7 million barrels (Institute of International Energy Studies 1995). In 1990, fuel consumption per ton of cement was 84 litres in Germany, whereas the equivalent figure for Iran in 1996 was 110 litres (Cement Quarterly 1996:11-15). In steel production, energy consumed per ton of steel in Iran is 20 per cent more than in developed countries. Even if the direct energy consumption of the industries under study were economized by 20 per cent, their DRC (estimated at Rials 3,750 to the dollar) would reach Rials 2,860 in the petrochemical industry; however, in the cement and steel production sectors, it would remain more than the SER, decreasing only to Rials 5,775 and Rials 7,748, respectively.
